Why I built a PDF tool that never leaves your browser

I merge, split and reorder PDFs a few times a month: signed contract pages, a scanned form, a report I only want to share part of. Every time, the fastest option online is a web tool that asks me to upload the file to a server I do not control. For a contract with someone else's signature on it, that always felt wrong.

So I built Local PDF Merge, a Chrome extension that does the same job (merge, split, reorder, rotate, delete pages) entirely inside the browser. It asks for no permissions and no host access. There is no server, so there is nothing to upload. You can check this yourself: open Chrome's network panel while you use it and you will see zero requests.

It handles large files too. I tested it with a 500-page, 100MB document and it merged in under 20 seconds. PDFs that only restrict printing or copying open normally; files that need a password to open get a clear per-file error instead of a crash, so the rest of your batch still works.

What it does not do: open a PDF that needs a password, compress or edit the actual page content, or keep bookmarks and form fields in the merged file. I would rather ship a smaller tool that is honestly offline than a bigger one that quietly phones home.

It is free, with no account and no limits, because the entire point was removing the step where your document becomes someone else's upload. Try it: chromewebstore.google.com/detail/fpgmiebpobbpebbbeecfkjfjlobfknkm